Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit

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Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit

Postby jollybootsofdoom » Wed May 01, 2013 6:35 pm

http://kotaku.com/lawsuit-claims-aliens-colonial-marines-used-false-adve-486156960

For those not in the know, A little while back Aliens:Colonial Marines was released by Gearbox ( of Borderlands fame). There was quite a bit of hype leading up to its release, especially after they released a demo. Unfortunately, the game released with a whole host of issues, and was panned by critics and the gaming community alike. Now, according to most of the major gaming websites, a class-action lawsuit is being brought against Gearbox for false advertising.

For those who would like a visual aid to show the discrepancies, I include this handy-dandy video:



With that all out of the way, I have a few questions for those who probably have a good deal more knowledge of the legal system than I.

While I can't find any evidence that Gearbox did so, most demos and trailers usually come with a "Not representative of the final product" disclaimer. If it does come out that Gearbox had those disclaimers, are they completely protected? Is the lawsuit doomed to fail because of those disclaimers?

If they didn't, or if that somehow doesn't cover their asses, what could be the ramifications for Gearbox? Simply refunding the customers' money? Or would there be more dire consequences? Exactly what kind of trouble is Gearbox in here?
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Re: Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit

Postby Overlord Moo » Wed May 01, 2013 10:24 pm

Good Lord, this shit again? It was bad enough when "Mass Effect and the Ending-That-Must-Not-Be-Named" came out. That game was at least good up until then. This is just all sorts of stupid (not that the Mass Effect lawsuit wasn't).
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Re: Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit

Postby QuincyMorris » Wed May 01, 2013 10:32 pm

Considering Sega was the publisher, I'm surprised there's little to no opposition to the fact that the game is indeed terrible. Even Sonic 06 has it's supporters. I suppose it must be the overlap with the Aliens fan base, as there was quite a strange belief among fans that this game would jump the 'problem with licensed games.'

The suit itself is pretty pointless, though. There are always going to be bad games and you can't change that. It's just gamers being entitled pricks, as per usual. If my understanding is correct, Gearbox should be sued by Sega for siphoning funds away from Aliens to work on Borderlands 2.

So yes, I believe the creators deserve to be sued, but for violating their contract with Sega, not for delivering a terrible product.

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The Wii U version is the best version guys
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Re: Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit

Postby Dottoe » Thu May 02, 2013 6:28 am

People certainly seemed to enjoy it. Nothing makes a hardcore game geek happier than being smug about a bad game. If I've learned one thing from Zero Punctuation, it's that.
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Re: Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit

Postby Marcuse » Thu May 02, 2013 7:25 pm

I think that the basis of the claim against Gearbox and Sega is that the trailer was deliberately fabricated to provide potential buyers with a false impression of the quality of the final product. This misled customers to buy that wouldn't have if they had seen the game before purchase, a situation made all the worse by heavy pre-order bonuses.

In effect the claim isn't that the game trailer isn't representative of the final game in that it has changed, more that the trailer is better than the final product in every way. The graphics are more polished, the AI is more reactive and responsive, the trailer has features like the flamethrower equipped powerloader that do not appear in the finished game.

In the end, the claim really rests on the fact that the trailer was claimed to be a "vertical slice" of gameplay and it blatantly wasn't. It was a deliberately created piece of marketing and does not reflect anything at all of the finished product, even as indication. Leave aside the fact that the game is horrible, badly made and buggy, the very fact that the trailer was even used could be argued as false advertising even if the game was ok as it contains things that don't occur in the final game that you would expect from a gameplay demo.

In my opinion, anyone who pre-orders or buys a game without doing a little research first really deserves what they get. Games are so variable in quality and content, and gaming is about the only industry where it's acceptable to release a blatantly unfinished product (The War Z, Sonic '06 etc), that you need to look it up before you buy. Given that literally hundreds of people do this on Youtube for free there is no excuse.
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